Rethinking Election Reform

Occasionally, a public issue surfaces which re lates to the basic fibers of our democratic system, an issue whose resolution further translates the democratic theory of 1776 into actual practice. Such is the issue of election reform. The problem is how to apply democratic principles to elections in an age of media politics seemingly dominated by dollar politics. The electoral process presents perhaps a classic conflict between the democratic theory of full public dialogue in free elections and the conditions of an economic marketplace. Election law reform has become a high priority issue; within the last five years, federal laws regulating elec tion campaigns have been changed twice, and 44 states have revised theirs. More revisions are occurring in the wake of the landmark Supreme Court decision in Buckley v. Valeo. Reform is not neutral but works to change institutions and processes, sometimes in unforeseen ways. Laws regulat ing relationships between candidates and political parties, and citizens and politicians, and affecting the relative power of interest groups, are bound to influence the entire political process and change the participation of citizens, candidates, parties, and other groups in elections. Recent changes are certain to have direct consequences for the two-party system, constitutional protections, and levels of participation and con fidence in the electoral system.